Personal Space In Public Places

Harry Smith On Different Ideas About Public Conduct

(CBS)  My space. It's hard to carve out personal space in New York. Some of us use head phones attached to our iPods. Others of us bury our eyes in our newspapers or a book. There's no such thing as personal space on a busy street. Darwin's rules of survival apply there.

So we noticed with some interest today that a former New York police officer named John Clifford was aquitted on charges that he acted too aggressively toward fellow passengers on the Long Island railroad.

Clifford took offense to other passengers talking on their cell phones and making too much noise on the train. He said he was standing up for his right to be let alone.

His fellow passengers view him as domineering ... even abusive.

Do we have a right to not be included in the grim details of other people's lives which they so carelessly share with us during their cell phone conversations?

The judge said yes.

And that is a victory for civilization.